party by taking the disguise of a madman named Tom O' Bedlam. Lear arrives at Gloucester's castle seeking Regan and is irate at seeing his messenger (the disguised Kent) humiliated. Kent is set free, but Regan then abuses Lear in the same way as her sister, saying that there is no need for Lear to support any retinue of knights. When Goneril arrives it is plain that the two daughters are intent upon stripping Lear of both his remaining powers and his dignity. Lear is beside himself with rage. He leaves the castle and plunges into the stormy night, followed only by Gloucester and the Fool. Act IIIScenes i, ii, iii, iv, v, vi & vii Kent learns that Lear has been wandering about madly in the storm, shouting epithets and curses at his daughters, his fortune, and nature itself. He finds Lear in a disheveled state and urges him to take shelter. At his castle, Gloucester tells Edmund that he has been commanded by Cornwall not to offer any aid to Lear. He also says that Cordelia and the King of France have heard of Lear's plight and are mounting an army to invade England. Edmund decides to tell Goneril and Regan about this so that they will punish Gloucester, allowing Edmund to inherit his father's estate. Back on the wind-torn heath, Lear remains in a torrential rage even while Kent and the Fool urge him to take shelter in a lowly hovel. There they encounter Edgar in his Tom O' Bedlam disguise; a mad Lear sympathizes and identifies with Edgar disguised as the mad Tom. Gloucester arrives and offers to provide Lear with shelter after revealing to Kent that Goneril and Regan now plan to kill their father. At Gloucester's castle, Lear, Kent and his fool conduct a mock trial of Goneril and Regan. But when Gloucester returns, he warns the trio to flee from his daughters' grasp. Goneril and Regan arrive and Gloucester himself is placed under arrest. When he chastises them, the Duke of Cornwall puts out his eyes. In reaction, one of Gloucester's loy...
